From playing a woman with borderline personality disorder opposite Clint Eastwood in his directorial debut “Play Misty for Me,” to her role as demanding mother Lucille Bluth in “Arrested Development,” film and television actress Jessica Walter has been in show business for 49 years.

But she didn’t start out there.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, the 72-year-old actress entered the working world on a different kind of stage.

Having attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School, the institution which inspired the “Fame” films, Walter often found herself accompanying friends on all sorts of auditions.

“In my senior year of high school summer, I auditioned by accident to be a copa girl at the Copacabana nightclub. I went into Manhattan, accompanied by a girlfriend who was a dancer and I ended up getting the job she auditioned for. She never spoke to me again,” Walter told the Journal.

The year was 1958 and the summer proved to be unforgettable for Walter.

“It was quite an experience, the nightclub world. I never even been in the nightclub and this was the nightclub. There was Joey Bishop and Andy Williams and Mort Sahl. When I was there over the summer they didn’t get the huge acts. But it was just a whole piece of show business different than the theaters,” said Walter.

She made $215 dollars per week, but only worked at the Copacabana for that summer. And although the performances were memorable, Walter found greater enjoyment in the pre-production process.

“We would go to this place called Larry Hairdressing on 57th between 6th and 7th. We go with our hair down and get an up-sweep with a Grace Kelly twist for the shows. We would go every single day right before we went to work at 7 pm, and on the weekends before we had a 2pm show,” said the actress.

She chose to save the money, unlike her current character on “Arrested Development.”

“I had a bank account and it was so exciting to see your little thing grow. I didn’t spend it. I saved. I’m not into jewelry and clothing, only my characters. I live vicariously through my characters,” she added.

And it wasn’t just the money she got out of the gig.

“The people that I met and the whole experience was just, I do think it enriched my knowledge show business, of performing in a way that’s just so different to film and TV.”